Grandparent Scams are on the Rise – Do you Know the Red Flags?
Older parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are an attractive demographic for scammers. In the ‘Grandparent Scam,’ the kindness of elderly is exploited. As the holiday season is quickly approaching, it is the perfect time to remind family members about this ‘emergency’ scam designed to fool seniors into believing their grandchild is hurt, arrested or stranded and in need of money.
According to recent FBI reports, the “Grandparent Scam” has been around since 2008, but there has been a surge recently even locally in Spokane. Retirees are an attractive target for financial scammers. As noted by Western Union, emergency scams play off of peoples’ emotions and strong desire to help others in need. Scammers impersonate their victims and make up an urgent situation – “I’ve been arrested,” “I’ve been mugged,” “I’m in the hospital” – and target friends and family with urgent pleas for help, and money.
BBB offers the following tips to avoid the Grandparent Scam:
Communicate. Teens and young adults should share travel plans with family members before leaving the state or country.
Share information. Teens should provide the cell phone number and email address of a friend they are traveling with in the case of an emergency. Family members should remind students to be cautious when sharing details about travel plans on social media.
Know the red flags. Typically, the grandparent receives a frantic phone call from a scammer posing as their grandchild. The “grandchild” explains that he or she has gotten into trouble and needs help, perhaps caused a car accident or was arrested for drug possession. The “grandchild” pleads to the grandparents not to tell his or her parents and asks that they wire thousands of dollars for reasons posting bail, repairing the car, covering lawyer’s fees or even paying hospital bills for a person the grandchild injured in a car accident.
Ask a personal question, but don’t disclose too much information. If a grandparent receives a call from someone claiming to be their grandchild in distress, BBB advises that the grandparent not disclose any information before confirming that it really is their grandchild. If a caller says “It’s me, Grandma!” don’t respond with a name, but instead let the caller explain who he or she is. One easy way to confirm their identity is to ask a simple question that the grandchild would know such as what school he or she goes to or their middle name.
If you believe you have been scammed or have questions about scams, contact your BBB by emailing info@spokane.bbb.org or call 509-455-4200. For more information you can trust, visit www.bbb.org.